Shawn Mendes is Giving Proceeds from Merch for Khalid Duet "Youth" to March for Our Lives

Just a day after releasing his new young people empowerment anthem "Youth" with Khalid, Shawn Mendes has announced he will be donating a portion of money earned from new merchandise around the song to March for Our Lives.

Shawn launched the new merch, which includes a navy hoodie with the word "YOUTH" imprinted on it, on Friday. He wrote in a tweet, "#Youth hoodie + Album collection available now. Will be donating a portion of all Youth collection sales to @AMarch4OurLives." The March for Our Lives organization was created by students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in the aftermath of the shooting where 17 people were killed in February of this year. Hundreds of thousands of people showed up to the March for Our Lives event in D.C on March 24 to protest gun violence and urge stricter gun control.

In an interview with Zane Low on Beats Radio 1, Shawn shared the inspiration for the moving new song, which includes lyrics like, "You can't take my youth away/This soul of mine will never break/As long as I wake up today/You can't take my youth away." He told Zane that he was in London close to the time of the London Bridge terrorist attack last June, which came closely after the bombing at Ariana Grande's concert in Manchester. The two events, Shawn explained, inspired him to start writing "Youth." He told Zane that he talked to Khalid about turning their collaboration into a force for good. "I said, 'when we get together, we have to make a statement. We have to move. We have to write about what’s going on in life and how the youth is feeling because I think we have the voice to do that,'" he explained.

Shawn is gearing up to release his new self-titled album on May 25, and he's already released two other singles, "Lost in Japan" and "In My Blood." The hoodies retail for $60 and are available on Shawn's website.